In this paper, the effect of particle concentration and turbidity on the performance of inline transmission based digital holography (DH) for particle characterization is studied. The results are analyzed based on the two metrics, i.e., detection efficiency and mean size of the particle population. Two sample depths are analyzed to quantify the effect of particle concentration. Considering 50% detection efficiency as a threshold, it is concluded that DH works well up to 0.1% (v/v) and 0.2% (v/v) particle concentrations for 10 mm and 5 mm sample depths, respectively. From the turbidity tests, it is found that DH works well up to 150 nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU) turbidity level for 10 mm sample depth. (C) 2013 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.